Author's Note

I don't own ROTG, only the storyline and oc's

Happy Easter, people! I hope you like! Enjoy!

Chapter 10: When Rainsong insists on a Disappearing Act

Narrator (POV)

Rainsong had fallen asleep during the ride back to the Workshop. She had chosen a seat in the very back. When asked why, she merely said she liked feeling the wind in her face. She had been asleep when they last checked, when they had been in view of the Workshop. When they actually arrived and were getting out, they turned to see that Rainsong had disappeared! Tooth was becoming frantic.

"Tooth, calm down! Panicking is not going to help us find her." Jack said, trying to stop Tooth from flitting around crazily. Tooth managed to calm herself down a bit.

"Where do you think she went?" asked Bunny.

"She has to be close to the Pole. After using that much energy over the past 24 hours, she won't be able to fly far." replied Jack.

"And we need to hurry. She was exposed to the heat way too long. I don't know if she'll be okay." replied Stormchase worriedly. Sandy made a question mark above his head.

"You see, because our powers compliment eachother, we can deal easily with heat and cold in different ways. If we're too cold, I can heat us up. I'll explain later." the last bit directed to Jack, who had been about to ask. Stormchase continued,

"And if we're too hot, Rainsong can cool us down. To clarify, I can take care of the heating, and Rainsong takes care of cooling. The thing is, I'm not sure how she'll do out there."

"Not quite following." Tooth said.

"She takes care of cooling us down. She was surrounded by the heat for the Moon knows how long. What I'm afraid of is, I'm not sure what such a rapid temperature change will do to her." he explained. The others nodded. They summoned a few Yeti's to aid in the search, and began to look outside. They didn't find a whole lot, besides some stray footprints that led to nowhere. They combed the surrounding area for half an hour, but no luck.

After returning to the Globe Room to warm up, one of the patrolling Yeti's, Phil, came in with a report. He said that he had found Rainsong hiding in a snowdrift, about a quarter mile from the Workshop, and that she appeared to be asleep. When he had reached down to pick her up, however, she had leapt up with a shout and had run away from him, laughing her head off.

Then she threw a small snowball at his feet and it exploded into what seemed like a ton of the powdery stuff into the air, like a smokebomb. When it cleared up, she had disappeared. There hadn't even been footprints. The only response that hadn't been laughing when he'd called out to her, was her shouting that they'd never catch her.

"Sounds like she's delusional." commented Bunny.

"She's acting like a little kid, from the sound of it." Tooth added.

"We need to go where she was last seen. Phil?" Stormchase asked. The Yeti nodded. After arriving at the place, they began to look around.

"Phil said she was in a snowdrift, so we should probably start there." said Jack, and Bunny rolled his eyes. They began to search through the surrounding drifts. It was easy to see where the Yeti had been, and after indicating which direction he had seen her run off in, Sandy and Jack began searching in that direction. Sandy was digging through a snowdrift when he was hit with a snowball from behind.

He turned to see Jack behind him, searching through another snowdrift. Sandy made a snowball and threw it! It hit dead center.

"What the heck Sandy?! What did you do that for?" Jack demanded.

Sandy signed,'You threw one first!'

"What? No I didn't." realization came across there faces. They looked in all directions, but didn't see her.

"It's to bad we can't find her. I had some cookies in my pocket." Jack said loudly. He winked at Sandy. Seconds later, a snowdrift exploded upward as Rainsong leaped out and tackled Jack into the snow.

"I wanna cookie." she grinned. Sandy finally dragged her off of Jack, who stood and brushed himself off. Jack reached into his pocket and pretended to be surprised.

"Sorry, Rainsong. I guess I ate the last one . I'm pretty sure North has more at the Workshop, though. Just stay with us, and you'll be able to get some." Jack bribed. Rainsong beamed at him and nodded. After instructing Sandy to keep a tight grip on her, he quickly informed the others.

"Vhy do I need to get cookies again?" asked North.

"Because, I told her that she would get cookies at the Workshop. It was the only way to convince her." Jack explained. North nodded. By this time, they had all gotten inside, but it took awhile to finally coax Rainsong into the Globe Room, as she currently seemed to have the mind and attention span of a 5-year-old.

She kept dashing after elves, snagging up toys and shying away from the Yeti's, hissing and growling playfully. They finally got her there and Sandy was able to entertain her by making small group of rabbits out of dreamsand, which she was happily chasing around the room. Bunny was grateful, as the whole '5-year-old' thing was beginning to grate on his nerves.

All the Guardians, minus Rainsong and Sandy, were discussing why she was acting this way, and how they could fix it.

"What if she fell out of the sleigh?" suggested Bunny.

"Vouldn't she just fly to the ground?" asked North.

"She wouldn't be able to if she was to tired." exclaimed Jack. Tooth's eyes widened.

"You mean, she hit her head or something?" asked Tooth.

"We'll just have Sandy knock her out and then we can look her over for injuries. Let's go." said Jack. When they went in, they were surprised to see her slouched in one of the couches, with Sandy signing somewhat frantically in front of her. It was surprising because ever since they got her in there, she had been moving non-stop. They hurried over and saw that Sandy was looking very worried.

"What's the matter, Sandy?" Stormchase asked. Sandy waved at the dreamsand rabbits that were still hopping around in a corner of the Globe Room, then motioned back to Rainsong. He showed pictures of her chasing the rabbits, then slowing down and almost collapsing.

Jack looked at her face, or tried to. Her hood was pulled up over her face, and she was hunched in on herself. He caught the others attention, and pulled off her hood. Her cheeks were flushed, as if she had been walking in the desert for 3 days straight. Bunny looked into her eyes; the usually bright emerald was reduced to a much duller shade, and were unfocused. When he tried to get closer, her eyes focused on him, and she weakly pushed him away.

She stood up, trembling, and managed to stumble over to Jack, who she tried to hang on to, but ended up slipping to the ground. Jack caught her, and hauled over to the couch. She snuggled into him, sighing in relief.

"Okay, what just happened?" asked Tooth.

"I think that she's overheated. She's trying to cool off again, and Frostbite is the coldest thing in here." Bunny explained. Jack felt her forehead. It was very warm. Too warm, hot in fact. Stormchase stepped forward.

"But why is she so hot? She was out in the Arctic weather for who knows how long." he said.

~Backtracking, Please standby~~Backtracking, Please standby~

Rainsong (POV)

After telling that crazy Summer spirit what's what, and climbing into the sleigh, I realized that I felt really hot. As if I was still inside that fire cage. I chose a seat in the back, hoping that the wind from the ride would cool me off. When I had thrown that dagger, I had known that it was a 50/50 shot. And it had worked. In that one moment of distraction, the fire had disappeared. I had flown out, quick as can be, and moments later she made the cage tiny. A voice cut through my thoughts.

"What?" I asked.

"I said, why are you in the back? Why not sit with us?" asked Tooth.

"I like the feeling of the wind in my face. I don't want to feel cornered right now" I answered. Tooth nodded, taking the hint. The wind did cool me off some, but I still felt uncomfortably warm. It became a little better when we were in sight of the workshop, being in the Arctic and all, and I curled up in my cloak to keep from shivering. Accept I didn't. The heat I felt was keeping the cold at bay. I didn't mind at first, but then it began to grow unbearable. I heard them whisper something about me being asleep.

If that's what they thought, then let them think that. I carefully sat up and leaned backward out of the sleigh. After making sure there was nothing in the way, and that they weren't looking, I leaned back until I fell out. I allowed my self to free fall for a ways, then flew to the ground.

The snow, oh, the snow was a relief. It seemed to banish the heat away just about. I was about a quarter of a mile away from the Workshop, and I was kinda glad of that. I could easily fly back when I wanted to.

I walked a little closer to the Workshop, then jumped into the air and flew back and beyond the way I came for a couple hundred yards. Then, I buried myself in the nearest snowbank, making it into a little room. I fiddled around for about 30 minutes, and finally came up with a snow-bomb. Basically, it works like a smokebomb. But with fine, powdery snow.

I stuck it my pocket and curled up in my cloak under the snow. I'm not sure if I was dozing, or was letting the cold numb me, but I felt my mind being dragged back to the 'real' world by a lot of noise. I felt really playful, like it was time for fun and games. I didn't know how long I had been asleep, or-there it was again. A rustling sound in the snow. I held still as a large foot broke into the far side of my little snow 'house'. It removed itself and a large face peeked in.

It was one of the Yeti's! I didn't want to go back yet. I was barely warm at all, and I wanted to play hide and seek more. Was that what I was doing before? Hid and seek? Not sure... wait, what's he doing? Is he trying to grab me? No way, I'm gonna win this game! And why is he making me hot? I don't like hot. I leapt high into the air with a shout, bursting through the roof of the 'house', and began running, laughing at how much fun this was! He called out something in Yetish, which I didn't understand of coarse, and I yelled back,

"You'll never catch me!" I laughed some more and took the snow-bomb from my pocket. I took aim and threw it at his feet. It exploded snow into the air, a lot more than I originally thought there would be, covering all of my tracks. I made no sound as I buried myself a few feet away in a new snowdrift.

I heard him call out in Yetish a few times before turning back and walking away. I carefully peeked out, and then dug to the very bottom of the drift, and in such a way that I could easily peek or slip out.

A couple of minutes later, I heard the other Guardians.

"Phil said she was in a snowdrift, so we should probably start there." said a voice that was definitely Jack's. I stilled myself and watched as Sandy and Jack began searching in 2 snowdrifts nearby, backs to eachother. I formed a snowball, a normal one, and threw it at Sandy, and ducked out of sight quickly.

He turned to see Jack behind him, searching through the other snowdrift. Sandy made a snowball and threw it at Jack, and it hit right on target.

"What the heck Sandy?! What did you do that for?" Jack demanded.

Sandy signed,'You threw one first!'

"What? No I didn't." realization came across there faces. They looked in all directions, but couldn't see me.

"It's to bad we can't find her. I had some cookies in my pocket." Jack said loudly. Cookies?! I want cookies! I burst out of the snowdrift and tackled Jack in my hurry.

"I wanna cookie." I grinned. Sandy dragged me off of Jack, who stood and brushed himself off. Jack reached into his pocket and seemed surprised.

"Sorry, Rainsong. I guess I ate the last one . I'm pretty sure North has more at the Workshop, though. Just stay with us, and you'll be able to get some." Jack said. I nodded and grinned. Cookies are yummy. Sandy stayed with me while Jack flew off to tell the others that the game was over. Sandy began to guide me back to the Workshop with the others. Which took awhile, considering that I insisted on walking in the snow.

Once inside, I guess I caused some trouble. Just ask Bunny. I kept getting sidetracked from the 'cookie' mission I had in my head. I kept chasing after the elves in a game of chase, grabbing up really cool looking toys to examine them better, and backing and running from Yeti's that came after me to get them back, me hissing and growling in play.

We eventually came into the Globe Room, and Sandy got my attention and made a group of bunny rabbits out of his dreamsand. I looked at him quizzically, and he motioned towards the rabbits. I began to chase them around the room, noticing that the rest of the Guardians, except Sandy, had left the room.

I shrugged it off and kept running after them, my full focus on them. I'm not sure how much time passed, but I began to get hot, but ignored it and kept dashing after the bunnies. I felt myself tire, and began slowing down, even though I was trying to speed up! Why is it so freaking hot in here?!

I suddenly felt exhausted, and my limbs felt heavy, and I slowed to a stop. I swayed in place and felt myself get hotter, as Sandy half led, half supported me to one of the couches. I simply fell almost, and curled in on myself, trying to block off the heat. I had my hood pulled up all the way, and couldn't see much. I heard Sandy's dreamsand doing stuff, but felt to hot to try and get up.

I heard the others come in. I didn't really hear what they were saying, it was all just a background hum. I was tugged to the real world when I felt more heat, and also cold among all of it. Jack must be in here. He could cool me off! Right? So hard to think. What just happened? It's so bright. Why is it hotter? Bunny? Go away! I pushed him away, and was surprised at how weak I felt.

I pushed myself to my feet, and stumbled somewhat blindly over towards Jack, the only cold thing in here. I finally got to him and tried to hold on to him, but couldn't, and began to slip. Jack caught me, and pulled me back to the couch. I felt the cold reviving me a little, and when he sat down, I snuggled up against him, sighing in relief.

The others kept saying stuff, but I zoned out, focusing on the cold Jack was radiating. He was like a stove that made cold instead of heat. It felt so good. Why is everything else making me so hot? It makes no sense. I'm so tired though.

Well, that happened. I feel kinda mean now. As if I've been picking Rainsong. On purpose. Don't worry, it'll get better from here. After she's all fixed up, I'll make sure that they all have fun-times and whatnot. For awile, at least. I promise. Later! Rainsong and Stormchase, out!